According to the recent demand for cars having a low fuel consumption ratio, a conjugated diene-based polymer having modulational stability represented by wet skid resistance as well as low running resistance, and excellent abrasion resistance and tensile properties is required as a rubber material for tires.
In order to reduce the running resistance of tires, there is a method of reducing hysteresis loss of vulcanized rubber, and rebound resilience at 50° C. to 80° C., tan δ, Goodrich heating, or the like is used as an evaluation index of the vulcanized rubber. That is, it is desirable to use a rubber material having high rebound resilience at the above temperature or a low tan δ value or Goodrich heating.
Natural rubbers, polyisoprene rubbers, or polybutadiene rubbers are known as rubber materials having low hysteresis loss, but these rubbers have a limitation of low wet skid resistance. Thus, recently, conjugated diene-based (co)polymers such as styrene-butadiene rubbers (hereinafter, referred to as “SBR”) and butadiene rubbers (hereinafter, referred to as “BR”), are prepared by emulsion polymerization or solution polymerization to be used as rubbers for tires. Among these polymerization methods, the greatest advantage of the solution polymerization in comparison to the emulsion polymerization is that the vinyl structure content and the styrene content, which specify physical properties of the rubber, may be arbitrarily adjusted and its molecular weight and physical properties may be controlled by coupling or modification. Thus, the SBR prepared by the solution polymerization is widely used as a rubber material for tires because it is easy to change a structure of the finally prepared SBR or BR, and movement of chain terminals may be reduced and a coupling force with a filler such as silica and carbon black may be increased by coupling or modification of the chain terminals.
If the solution-polymerized SBR is used as the rubber material for tires, since a glass transition temperature of the rubber is increased by increasing the vinyl content in the SBR, physical properties such as running resistance and braking force, required for tires may be controlled, and fuel consumption may also be reduced by appropriately adjusting the glass transition temperature.
The solution-polymerized SBR is prepared by using an anionic polymerization initiator and is being used by coupling or modifying the chain terminals of the polymer thus formed using various modifiers.
Meanwhile, carbon black and silica are being used as a reinforcing filler of a tire tread, wherein, if the silica is used as the reinforcing filler, low hysteresis loss and wet skid resistance may be improved. However, since the silica having a hydrophilic surface has a low affinity with a conjugated diene-based rubber in comparison to the carbon black having a hydrophobic surface, dispersibility may be poor, and thus, there is a need to use a separate silane coupling agent to improve the dispersibility or provide coupling between the silica and the rubber.
Therefore, attempt of introducing a functional group having affinity or reactivity with silica into the terminal of a rubber molecule is being performed, but its effect is insufficient.
In addition, if the affinity only with silica is improved, the affinity with carbon black is relatively degraded, and thus, the application range thereof may be limited.
Accordingly, the development of rubbers having high affinity with carbon black as well as silica is required.